Lonely Soldier
by Ryuuen Chou
Summary: Aya has a talk with Omi. Aya has a heart! Cute, but very dark, no shounen-ai. (wow) SPOILERS for the series until episode 12.


Lonely Soldier  
By Ryuuen  
  
Warnings: Language, dark themes. SPOILERS for the series until episode 12 "Why...?"/ "Abschied".  
  
A/N: This is cute. Sad, very dark, but cute. Aya and Omi.. but not as a couple. Aya has a heart. Isn't that sweet? Yeah.. anyway. Takes place just after episode 12. Please read and review! C&Cs welcome! Arigato gozaimasu~!  
NOTE: The songs, and who they're by, is as follows (# represents the # of the song in order in the fic):  
1) "Setsunakutemo... zutto" ("Although it's painful... always") by Hayashi Nobutoshi.  
2) "Ochanoko Saisai Hengen Jizai" ("It's a Piece of Cake to Change my Appearence") by Seki Tomokazu.  
3) "Heart ni KIRAboshi Sakishitare!!" ("Make Twinkling Stars Bloom in Your Heart!!") by Hayashi Nobutoshi.  
4) "Dengon" ("Message") by Koyasu Takehito.  
5) "MIZU-KAGAMI" ("Water-Mirror") by Seki Tomokazu.  
6) "Ashita no Watashi wo Shinjitai" ("I Want to Believe in the Me of Tomorrow") by Ishidzuka Saori.  
7) "Inoru you ni Aishite'ru" ("Loving You as if Praying") by Araki Kae.  
8) "Perfect World" by Sakamoto Chika.  
LONELY SOLDIER  
----------------------------  
  
~"Whenever I see your tears, I can't stand it. It makes me want to hold you close from behind."~  
  
Indifferent violet eyes watched the shaking figure on the ground; though his eyes were indifferent, however, his heart was not. It wrenched at the sight of the boy, clutching his sister and the only person who had truly ever loved him to his chest, his eyes closed and tears falling down his face, mixing with the gently rain that fell all around them.  
  
The rain surrounded them, muffled the boy's anguished screams as the three men looked on, protecting the boy from the world, from reality, letting him cry until the tears dried up, scream until his throat was raw. The eyes of the man with the long blonde hair were filled with tears that didn't fall. The brown-haired on cried freely, but silently. The red-haired one with the indifferent eyes said nothing, and did not cry, no tears coming to those ice-violet eyes. Yet there was a silent promise in those eyes, full of malice and cold revenge.  
  
I will not let them walk away from this. They killed his heart. They will pay.  
  
~"My true self remains hidden under my smiling face, but instead of being serious, I'm laughing (laughing) and fooling around (fooling around)."~  
  
"Omi.. daijobu ka?" Yohji inquired, turning his head towards the boy, wondering how he had managed to drag himself out of bed so soon. After Asuka died... he shook away the thought, irritated. He should be thinking about Omi, not himself. But, to his surprise, the boy flashed him a smile, eyes closing for a half-second before opening again, and he looked like his normal happy-go-lucky self.  
  
"Genki desu." The boy replied, turning to put the apron on over his head, a garish yellow colored apron that clashed with anything he wore.  
  
The front didn't fool Yohji- he could see the hurt in those eyes, the pain that overshadowed the false happiness he showed to everyone else. He knew it well, that kind of pain that one hides deep inside. He had felt it himself.  
  
"Omi..." He said softly, but the boy didn't seem to hear him. Didn't want to hear him.  
  
~"In a brawling battle, let the sparks fly! Rekka Shin'en! Flowers and storms and walls- overcome them. Fly again."~  
  
A shape in the shadows of his room. Suddenly, he felt afraid, wondering what it was that cast such a dark shadow, that could scare an assassain. Briefly he wondered if the shadow was his death. But then it moved, and he saw ice-violet eyes flash in the darkness, and while this didn't totally reassure him, it helped. He froze like ice when the red-haired shadow approached his bed, sat down on the end of it, facing him. The redhead's profile was etched finely in the moonlight, revealing every sharp angle of his face, the way his eyes looked like pieces of ice or diamonds tinted lavender, his hair falling around his face in a brilliant defiance to the rest of him, bright where the rest of him was dark and shadowed, the only part of him that really shone, wanting to be noticed, but not wanting to be noticed.  
  
Similarly, the moonlight revealed the boy. His dark blue eyes filled with sadness, his tanned face, the bags under his eyes. Blue eyes, looking, in the moonlight, to be the color of the deepest ocean, where in the day they sometimes looked like the water from a stream, a color just deeper blue than ice. His blonde hair fell in front of his eyes, escaped from where he had tucked it behind his ears, sharpening his more rounded features and framing them. His mouth opened, but closed again, unable to speak. The redheaded assassain, taking pity on him, perhaps, spoke first.  
  
"Why do you hide your sadness?" Aya asked, his eyes locking with Omi's, freezing him solid. Omi knew he couldn't lie to those eyes, they would find him out in a second.  
  
"Because I don't want pity." He said finally. Seeing Aya's raised eyebrow, he added, "because I want to forget."  
  
"You can't forget." The older assassain replied, his voice almost sympathetic, sorry. "You only cause yourself more pain."  
  
Omi heard the meaning of his words, heard the silent knowledge, and knew that Aya knew exactly what he was talking about. Knew exactly how it felt. His immediate wish was to take away that pain, but he knew that he couldn't, no matter how much he wanted to.  
  
"I know.." He said softly, "but I won't.. I won't make others sad.. just because I am."  
  
And now he felt the tears coming, stinging his eyes like being too close to fire. He blinked quickly, trying to wish them away. He didn't want to cry in front of him.  
  
"Omi.. people are sadder when they see you trying to hold it all inside." Aya said. "It's worse to them, to see you suffering where they can't help you, than to let them help you through it. You drive people away.. and you'll never get over the sadness."  
  
Omi was surprised, this being the most he had ever heard Aya speak, but that shock was overshadowed by his sadness, and he felt the tears running down his cheeks, tiny diamond raindrops that he couldn't ever hold on to. He felt a sudden almost-fear, crying in front of the other WeiB, what the reaction to his tears would be.  
  
His fear turned to surprise when he felt those pale, strong arms wrap around him, pull him close, let him cry.  
  
~"Ah... whatever sorrow or hardships... I wanted to erase them from before you."~  
  
"We're all lonely, you know." He heard Aya's soft whisper, and though the words weren't reassuring, particularly, his tone was, and Omi let himself relax, let himself go in those arms, feeling safe for the first time in forever. "We're all lonely.. but that's why we can't be without anyone."  
  
Is this heaven? the boy wondered silently. Where people care about each other? Is this a lie? Is it real?  
  
"Aya-kun.." Omi whispered, both in awe of his friend and in awe of the fact that Aya had chosen him to talk to about things so personal. He hadn't thought Aya even liked him anymore, not since they had found out that he was a Takatori.. but he wasn't, not really.  
  
"Iie." The man replied crisply, but his voice was still soft. "Don't speak.. I know what you think.. that I don't care about you anymore because you are a Takatori."  
  
The thought crossed Omi's mind that his friend may be a mind reader.  
  
"Uso yo." Aya was saying. "You aren't a Takatori.. because in your heart, you're Tsukiyono Omi."  
  
Omi felt a new wave of tears stinging at his eyes and pulled himself closer to Aya. This time, though, the tears were of relief, not sadness. He didn't want Aya to hate him, had been terrified by the thought of one of his friends hating him. He wondered if Aya had been there that night, in a shadow somewhere, perhaps, when Hirofumi had died.. perhaps had heard his words, "I'm not a Takatori.. I am Tsukiyono Omi!", cried out to the empty skies and the sea below the bridge, echoing with his tears in the quiet night.  
  
Aya held the boy close, wanting badly to take the pain away from him. He was so young, only a year older than his sister had been when Takatori had put her into a coma. He shouldn't have had to go through all of this. He shouldn't have known what a dead body looked like close up, what death smelled like. Should never have had to send an arrow into a man, a bone-chilling smile on his youthful face. He held Omi tightly, trying to wish away the hurt in his eyes.  
  
~"The pain I submerged deep in my heart screamed and was revived. Sometimes I try to blame myself, asking 'Why did I do that?' Sometimes I ask my friend, saying 'But why?'"~  
  
"She.. she was a good person, you know.." He heard the boy whisper. "She wasn't as selfish as everyone thought. She didn't deserve to die.."  
  
"I know." Aya replied softly. "I know."  
  
"It's wrong, though.." Omi protested quietly. "They just did it to get to me.. why do people always destroy what's dear to someone else? They didn't care.. they didn't want her.. they wanted me. Why couldn't they have just taken me?"  
  
"Because evil is, in itself, destructive." Aya said. "They wanted to hurt you, to torture you, and they knew that to hurt you more than anything, they would have to hurt someone you cared about."  
  
"Demo.." Omi started to say, but Aya put a hand over his mouth, gently, his eyes actually warm, the lavender-ice deepening to a dark violet color.  
  
"Iie." The man said sternly, though his voice was still soft, meant to comfort. "Get some sleep.. you need it."  
  
Omi said nothing, because Aya was doing the one thing that would get him to go to sleep without any trouble: giving him a backrub. He sighed, trying to look irritated at the swordsman, but found that he couldn't. Instead, he curled up in Aya's arms, hearing the assassain's soft chuckle, letting sleep claim him.  
  
~"So, I want to believe in the me of tomorrow. That's why I'm trying my best now. 'Hope will bring a miracle.' I won't forget your words."~  
  
His knock on the door brought nothing but silence. He carefully pushed open the door, and it slid open silently. The sight that greeted him was enough to stun him into silence.  
  
On the bed, Aya and Omi lay, Omi curled up in Aya's arms and Aya holding him. Both were fast asleep, and for the first time in a long time, they both looked to be at peace. Aya's lips were curled up in a small smile, and though Omi didn't smile, he looked perfectly peaceful, happy, there.  
  
Chuckling quietly to himself, Ken shut the door behind him, leaving for the shop, leaving them to sleep.  
  
~"Even a little smile really cheers me up. Right now, I want to convey all that's suddenly shining."~  
  
Omi's eyes opened slightly, looking sleepily at the redhead who held him, a tiny smile lighting on his face when he saw those eyes, deep violet, staring back at him.  
  
"Arigato, Aya-kun.." He whispered. The swordsman's smile widened.  
  
"Come on.. the shop's open. We should get down there." He said. Omi sat up, rubbing his eyes, Aya following suit.  
  
"Hai." Omi said as they both stood. Aya looked back as he opened the door, seeing the boy smiling at him.  
  
"Ganbatte, Omi."  
  
And then he left, with only a wink and a smile.  
  
Omi grinned.  
  
~"When I can, I'll watch over you. Love is the name for this perfect world."~  
  
~owari~ 


End file.
